Thais to check on Japanese man’s four alleged surrogate kids in Cambodia

BANGKOK – Thai officials will soon travel to Cambodia after an adviser to a Japanese man claiming to be the father of at least 15 babies in Thailand on Friday invited them to see how well four children apparently fathered by the man are being raised in Cambodia.

Assistant National Police Chief Kokiat Wongworachart, in a news conference in Bangkok, referred to the adviser as the man’s “coordinator” and said the coordinator had sent police photographs of the children in Cambodia showing they are in good health.

Still, the assistant chief said, Thai authorities need to check on them in person.

According to Thai Immigration Department records, the Japanese man has traveled to Thailand 40 times and on at least some occasions he left the country with children, apparently those he fathered via surrogate mothers in Thailand.

Bangkok Deputy Police Chief Chayuth Thanataweerat urged the Japanese businessman to meet with Thai officials to prove he is the father of all the children and to tell the officials why he wants to father so many children.

Chayuth said an explanation from the businessman will go a long way to reassuring both the authorities and the public that all the children are wanted and that the man is prepared to take care of all of them.

Chayuth admitted Thailand holds little power to deal with the man, but “several channels” are being used to obtain information about him.

DNA tests on the babies have shown at least nine of them were fathered by the same man, with several different women, but it has not been definitively proven the unnamed Japanese man and the father of the nine is the same person.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Social Development and Human Security Ministry said the ministry has provided guardianship for 12 babies, but no decision has been taken on what will eventually happen to them.

Assistant chief Kokiat said if the father wants to claim the 12 babies he will need to meet Thailand’s legal requirements to do so.

In total, the Japanese man is believed to be the father of 15 babies and one pregnant Thai woman has told police she is carrying a child fathered by the man.